Idaho school abandons plan to reopen. It will follow the governor’s guidelines instead.
A Fruitland public charter school planned to reopen its doors for in-person classes Monday. But it reversed course, announcing it will remain closed for the final nine days of the school year.
Treasure Valley Classical Academy Principal Steve Lambert announced the U-turn Wednesday night during a virtual town hall on Facebook, citing Gov. Brad Little’s phased reopening of Idaho from the coronavirus pandemic.
The Idaho Rebounds plan recommends no gatherings of 10 or more people until Stage 3, which couldn’t start until May 30 at the earliest. The charter’s school year ends May 29.
“We cannot practically operate the school in groups of nine people or less,” Lambert said. “We have too many students, not enough rooms and it’s practically not doable.
“And that really frustrates me, because there is nothing that I would like to do more than reconnect our students with our teachers.”
Little first unveiled the Idaho Rebounds plan three weeks ago.
Lambert did not immediately respond to an interview request.
Treasure Valley Classical Academy hosts 294 students in kindergarten through sixth grade. It planned to be Idaho’s first public school to reopen during the coronavirus pandemic. Private schools like Nampa Christian have reopened.
Southwest District Health previously approved Treasure Valley Classical Academy’s plan to reopen. It included resuming buses, allowing up to nine students to share a lunch table and bringing students back to campus for medical screenings Friday.
All public and private gatherings should be avoided until Saturday under Stage 1 of the Idaho Rebounds plan.
Asked Monday how the school could keep students 6 feet apart — as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and for all individuals in Idaho’s phased reopening — Lambert said the school would do its best.
“We’re going to spread them out as much as we can,” Lambert previously told the Idaho Statesman. “Whether or not it’ll be precisely 6 feet, more or less, between each one, I don’t know.
“I know that’s the number in public lore right now. I don’t know if it stands for anything scientific.”
None of that will happen as the school continues online, or distance, learning until it breaks May 29 for summer vacation.
Lambert expressed frustration at the varying federal, state and local guidance schools must navigate to reopen. He pointed out Little’s Idaho Rebounds plan doesn’t mention schools once.
The governor deferred to the Idaho State Board of Education on reopening schools. But the State Board’s latest reentry criteria refers back to the Idaho Rebounds guidelines.
“This is a difficult regulatory environment,” Lambert said. “There are different, well-meaning levels of guidance out there. Some national, that you are all aware of in the media; some local and some state level. And they are not always correlated or synchronized.
“Schools, particularly charter schools, are left to navigate and figure out where the gaps are and where all the seams are. And how to fit all this guidance into something that’s coherent and makes sense.”
This story was originally published May 14, 2020 at 12:50 PM.
